In Twin Peaks Part 4 on Showtime, Deputy Director Gordon Cole realizes the team is no where near Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Ever prepared, Special Agent Albert Rosenfield presents Cole with a photo of Mount Rushmore. While examining the photo, he remarks, “There they are Albert – faces of stone.” But did you know this isn’t the first time the “faces of stone” appeared in Twin Peaks? Let’s set the way back machine to Season 1.
In Episode 1001, Sheriff Harry Truman speaks with Big Ed about his stakeout while standing near the kitchen at the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department. Look carefully at the stacked pink boxes of doughnuts in the background. Notice the image behind the boxes.
It’s not until Episode 1004 that we get a better picture of the kitchen and the image once buried behind boxes. Upon closer examination, it’s a calendar with an image of Mount Rushmore!!
By Season 2, the “faces of stone” calendar had disappeared from the kitchen. This was best seen in Episode 2006 when Deputy Andy Brennan speaks with Lucy Moran in the kitchen.
Meanwhile, back to South Dakota…
Thanks to Albert, the “faces of stone” reappear during the car ride. But where did this image come from?
I rotated the image in Photoshop and tried a Google Image search. The returned results identified to location as “monuments in Arizona.” Nope. So I tried Getty Images and searched for “Mount Rushmore.” There were 36 pages of results but I still could not locate a match. Finally, I searched “Mount Rushmore Calendar” and was directed to Mount Rushmore National Monument website.
I looked at the photos on the site and bingo – I found it! Check out the third image in the top row.
To confirm the match, I compared the cloud formation above President Abraham Lincoln with the clouds in the image Albert presents Gordon. Looks like “faces of stone” to me.
The Mount Rushmore image from Twin Peaks Part 4 on Showtime is different than the calendar image from Season 1. It’s unclear I’ll be able to find a match but that won’t stop me from looking.
